West Ham United clinched their 4th win of the season in the Premier League as they defeated Newcastle United at St James Park in their last match. The Hammers will look to keep their winning run intact when they take on Cardiff City in their next game at the London Stadium.
Manuel Pellegrini would be happy with his side’s effort in the last match against the Magpies, which reflected their team integration and concrete planning. He will expect another strong performance in the next game as the east London side look to bounce back from their disastrous start to the season.
Team News
No new casualties have been added to the already long list of injured players for the Hammers, which should come as a relief for their manager. Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko, Ryan Fredericks, Carlos Sanchez and Winston Reid are all out with injuries and will not play any part in the fixture against the Bluebirds.
Goalkeeper
Lukasz Fabianski dished out another superb performance in goal to clinch another clean sheet against the Magpies, and he would look to do the same against the Cardiff City attack, which has managed to score only 13 goals this season.
Defence
Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena gave no space to the Newcastle attackers in the last match, and that contributed heavily in their side’s win.
They would look to keep the pressure on the Cardiff attackers as well and will get support from the veteran right-back Pablo Zabaleta and the enthusiastic left-back Aaron Cresswell as they go into the next encounter.
Midfield
Mark Noble and Declan Rice will start in the heart of the midfield and would be accompanied by Robert Snodgrass from the right-hand side and Felipe Anderson from the left. All four players are in good form and would look to build the game from the back with their superb passing and ball control.
Attack
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez will look to add to his goal tally after his brace against Newcastle United in the last match. Marko Arnautovic, who looked a bit off-colour in the last match, will start alongside him and look to bring back his scoring touch against the Cardiff City defence.
Predicted Formation: 4-4-2
